Ziziphus mucronata (rhamnaceae), known in South Africa as the "buffalo thorn", is reported to have numerous magico-medicinal uses. Pharmacological investigations have shown sedative, analgesic, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activities.
The alkaloid extract of the roots afforded as main component the already known cyclopeptide alkaloid mucronine-D.
Among the minor compounds O-demethyl mucronine-D, and a new cyclopeptide alkaloid, which is an isomer of sativanine-K, were isolated.
The structure of the three compounds have been mainly determined through recent 1D- (selective excitation) and 2D-NMR (long-range C-H correlation and ROESY)
